The National Confederation of Agriculture (CNA) today asked Agriculture Minister José Manuel Fernández to urgently hold hearings on the crisis in the wine sector, criticising the government’s “palliatives and silence”.
“This morning, Thursday, the CNA sent a request to the Minister of Agriculture for an urgent hearing to address the crisis that is being experienced throughout the wine sector, with particular reference to the demarcated region of Douro, and reaffirms the need to take effective measures to immediately compensate for the loss, in some cases total, of income of winemakers,” he said in a statement.
For farmers, the “dramatic situation in the sector” requires an effective response from the Ministry of Agriculture, not stopping at “pollyatives, delays or deafening silence”.
According to CNA, small and medium-sized producers are in a desperate situation due to threats from large processors and commercial agents not to buy grapes that are bearing fruit.
The confederation also stressed that the situation is more serious in the Douro region, given that farmers have to deal with the reduction of benefits announced by the Douro and Porto Wine Institute (IVDP).
There are 14,000 fewer kites at stake, compared to 12,000 kites cut last year.
“Another heavy blow to the incomes of winegrowers, who were already forced to sell grapes at prices they had 25 years ago and bear huge production costs, in a region where the growing imbalance of market power between production, processing and trade always hurts small and medium-sized producers,” he lamented.
The Confederation also criticised the fact that only the anti-crisis measure for distillation was introduced, which does not reach grape producers.
The CNA needs emergency support measures to cushion the loss of income, support that the confederation says should arrive by the end of the year.
“If nothing is done, farmers will be forced to hand over the grapes to the Minister of Agriculture and the government,” he warned.